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? ──── ? ??? ? ──── ?

Crree..!

A huge glaive passed overhead. Do-joon lifted his spear and lowered his body, letting the attack flow.

The orc created a gap as the attack was swept away. Do-joon tried to throw out his spear, but soon he had no choice but to step down.

Swooosh!

Then a spear popped out in front of him. Another orc has appeared to stab him.

‘Are you sure that’s right?’

He avoided it reflexively, but immediately after that, he thought of it. If it’s the characteristic of the Adamantine Form, then couldn’t he just get hit and fight?

It was his first fight after acquiring the attribute, so he inadvertently avoided it.

Do-joon, who retreated once, put mana into the spear. The cold air flowed through his hands and down to the spear blade.

― It’s cold, you bast*rd!

“Can you feel the temperature?”

Clang!

Do-joon responds appropriately to Kalish’s words and blocks the incoming blow.

He moved to avoid being encircled as much as possible, and fought the orcs with a single spear.

Koorook! Kkakaka!

【Orc Warrior Dertu】

A Named Orc who led his subordinates and swung a glaive directly at the vanguard.

Until now, he didn’t know about them well because he only threw the thunderbolt from afar, but there were several types of Named ones among them.

There were those who sent only their subordinates and helped out from behind, while others led them directly from the vanguard like this orc, Dertu.

‘This kind of guy is the most annoying.’

Of course, this type was difficult to deal with.

When dealing with a majority, he needed one of two things. Either subdue the leader at once, or defeat the weaker ones step by step.

‘If Named one is in front, it will be difficult to deal with the other orcs.’

And Do-joon had not yet been able to deal with the Named Orcs at once.

If the leader was in the vanguard there, the morale of the subordinate orcs would also increase. There was a feeling that the whole group was getting stronger than at other times.

Kang! Kang! Kang!

Whoosh!

Thanks to this, Do-joon has been on the defensive throughout the battle. However, in the meantime, the number of them was gradually decreasing.

Kaaang!

Then a blow came from the back.

The glaive hit Do-joon’s forearm, but it didn’t hurt at all. A dull sound resounded, and the orcs panicked.

‘Okay, it’s working properly.’

Do-joon’s eyes lit up when he confirmed that fact. It was a blow that he deliberately tried to get hit for confirming the Martial Arts – Adamantine Form.

If the Adamantine Form hadn’t been able to do its job, then his forearm would have been greatly damaged.

Swooosh!

Kueek!

Do-joon threw his spear and killed the bewildered Orc.

When he killed the guy in the back, he felt a sharp widening of the path. The number had decreased to a level that could be driven by his skills.

As his movements became more comfortable, as breathing regained stability. Do-joon, who was on the defensive, had now turned to the offensive.

― Ho.

After that, it was a breeze.

Do-joon paid more attention to Dertu and killed all of his subordinate orcs.

The orc angrily slammed the glaive down.

Boom-!

A blow so powerful that the earth splits in an instant.

However, there was no way Do-joon could quietly respond to such a large attack. In addition, there were no more subordinates who filled the gap in the large movements.

Do-joon jumped up next to the orc and moved his spear into the orc’s temple.

Jab! Thrust!

The spear penetrated Dertu’s head, splitting the skull and digging through the soft brain.

“Crook.. .. !”

Dertu let out a short moan as if he were fainting.

Do-joon pulled out the spear and pierced it’s chest deep again. The location of the Orcs’ heart was already known to him.

Thuud-

Eventually, the giant Named also became a dead body and collapsed.

The corpses of subordinate orcs were also full around him.

“Ha.. .. Huh.. .. Whoo.. .. .”

Do-joon sat on the body of Dertu, who collapsed while catching his breath. Then, like a habit, he took out a cloth and wiped off the blood and dirt from the spear.

“What do you think?”

― Hmmmm.

Kalish hummed in a strangely open tone. From the standpoint of hearing, it sounded quite irritating.

― First of all, what was that just now? You got a direct hit in the arm, didn’t you? But, you didn’t feel anything. Is it magic?

“I’m not a wizard. You can think of it as a kind of skill.”

― Aha. Your skills are truly bizarre.

Kalish spoke in admiration. Skills have already been briefly explained to him.

― Other than you not receiving proper training. It felt like a movement learned in practice.

“That’s right.”

― That’s not a bad thing. In battle, reading the flow is the most important thing. From what I saw earlier, it looked like you were getting used to it.

Kalish’s evaluation started with compliments. However, Do-joon was not comfortably pleased.

Because he knew best for himself, that he was still a mess.

― However, there are a lot of unnecessities. It’s a disadvantage when you learn weapons only in practice.

“I see.”

Do-joon nodded his head. In a way, he might think it was a common point, but it felt like the weight of the words were different when someone who was a master of spear talks about it.

― Do you know how to forge weapons?

“Are you talking about weapons?”

Do-joon was curious about the sudden question.

― In order to make stronger and harder weapons, craftsmen constantly knock and strike the iron. They work day and night to remove impurities and create high-strength iron.

“.....”

― The same goes for you. In order to learn the spear of the Storm God, you must not just handle the spear, but become one with the spear, yourself. Unnecessary movements should be cut off and each movement should be sharpened.

Do-joon nodded. What Kalish was trying to say was well understood.

In other words, this was what taught him the learning goal. In which direction would it be carried out in the future.

“Then should I start with the basic posture? Like stabbing 10,000 times or something?”

Do-joon talked while imagining things that he had seen in novels and movies. Then Kalish asked in an absurd tone.

― Stabbing 10,000 times? What’s that?

“Uh.. .. . Isn’t that how you get into posture through repetitive training like that?”

― Repeated training is necessary, but doing it all the time is counterproductive. Bad habits may harden. Besides.. .. .

Kalish paused for a moment before answering.

― First, there are parts that need to be corrected urgently.

“Really?”

Do-joon’s eyes became round. He even went so far as to add the word “urgently” on it, just because it was something that needed to be corrected? Does he have such a dangerous habit?

― It’s mana.

“What? Mana?”

Mana?

― You have gotten the right kind of mana. You have a reasonably decent amount of magical power, with the rare exception of a yin energy, and the flow is especially well maintained.

The flow was not something he developed, it was a trait that emerged as an Awakened, but it was okay to talk about that later.

― However, the management is very inconvenient.

“Is it that bad?”

― That’s about it. When I see you using mana, I feel like an apprenticeship wizard is playing with newly learned mana.

That was strange. He thought he was doing just like everyone else was doing.

― Can you see the rock over there? Put your mana in there and stab it once.

“Yes.”

Do-joon did what he was told without saying anything.

As soon as the magical power of the mana was awakened, a cold chill appeared all over his body, just like before. The cold air eventually continued to the spear he was holding.

Crunch!

When he stabbed the rock in that state, the center of the rock was torn apart, leaving a hole the size of a basketball.

Imagining that the mana was a basketball and it pierced a person’s body. It was a blow that made the upper body fly.

― As expected, it’s so simple! Next, look with a little more mana towards me. I’ll show you a proper demonstration.

After that, as Kalish said, Do-joon poured more mana into the spear. He didn’t know how much he needed, so he poured as much as he could.

He wondered what Kalish was doing with the mana in the spear, and soon the mana returned to Do-joon’s arm.

“Huh?”

But the mana that came back was a little strange.

Like a skein of a thread, or the roots of a deeply embedded plant. Mana was torn into hundreds or thousands of branches. The mana that was originally lumped was nowhere to be found.

The mana of each strand permeated Do-joon’s arms and shoulders.

At that moment, he felt a force in his shoulders that felt like it would burst. If he left it like this, he wondered if it was really going to explode.

― Don’t delay, and shoot quickly! It’s too much for you to maintain it yet.

“Oh, yes!”

At the command of Kalish, Do-joon set the spear on the rock just like before.

As the spear exploded, the mana, which was like a thread, began to move similar to a creature with a will. The magical energy began rotating and orbiting around the spear and soon surrounded it.

Kwagwagwang-!

The rock the size of a house was split and crushed in an instant. Leaving behind a large spiral trail, as if it had been shattered by a giant drill.

“This.. .. .”

― That is the first form that you must learn first.

Lub-dub! Lub-dub!

Do-joon’s heart pounded heavily.

Was this a blow that came out of his own two hands, only with his own mana?

He felt like his eyes were opening. Does this how a frog who witnessed the sky outside the well felt?

― You can do it, too.

“Are you sure?”

― Of course. That’s why I’m here.

Seeing Do-joon, who was rarely excited, Kalish said happily. If the student responds like this, the instructor would obviously be excited.

That much, Do-joon was excited.

But.

― First, let’s practice tearing mana into ten strands.

It was still far from being completely his own.

* * *

That day, Do-joon succeeded in tearing his mana up to three strands. To be precise, the three strands were limited to tearing, holding, and moving.

“Ha.. .. . Ha.. .. .”

Do-joon collapsed into the ground in a large shape from heavy depletion of mana.

Next to him, Kalish said.

― We have no choice but to increase this sense by repeated mastery. Whether it’s 10,000 or 100,000 times you mentioned earlier, you have to keep practicing.

“Phew.. .. . All right.”

Still, even with just three strands, he could feel that the efficiency was better than usual.

It felt like taking off the mana that used to go into useless places and strengthening the places where it’s needed.

‘It’s mana.. .. .’

After a short sense of accomplishment, Do-joon was lost in thought again. Soon, the excitement went away and he asked Kalish in a lower voice than usual.

“May I ask you a question?”

― What is it?

“Do you know anything about a disease that is born with vast mana at a young age?”

― Hmmm?

Kalish was quiet for a moment to search the knowledge in his head. But soon he replied.

― Well.. .. .

“If there is such a disease, can you cure it?”

― Why? Do you know someone like that?

“.... Yes, my daughter.”

― .....

Did he feel the emotion in a gloomy tone?

Kalish remained silent.

― I won’t be able to say anything until I see it.

His answer came out soon.

Do-joon returned home right away on that road.

“Dad! Dad! Dad!”

So-eun greeted him warmly when he returned home. Do-joon’s face naturally smiled.

“So-eun, can you sit here for a second?”

“Yeah!”

Do-joon who sat in the room because he didn’t even have time to wash up. He sat So-eun in front of him and held Kalish in his hand.

“What is this? A stick?”

“It’s something that your dad uses for work. Please wait a minute.”

“Huh.”

In a little bit.

Kalish said it.

― I’m sorry, but I don’t know at all. Well, if it’s a place where I can guess.... This child has no mana path at all.

“Path .. You mean?”

Do-joon responds to Khalish’s words. So-eun tilted her head when she saw Do-joon like that.

“Dad, who are you talking to?”

“Huh?”

― I’m talking so that only you can hear me.

Did he have such talent as well?

Do-joon admired it for a moment and stroked So-eun’s head silently. So-eun smiled and rubbed her head against Do-jun’s hand.

― Mana is a thing that circulates along the path. Anyone, even the untrained general public, has a path to some degree. But your daughter has no path at all.

“Is .. ..that so?”

― It’s just my opinion, but I think it would probably be nice if you could form the path for your daughter in the same way you did for yourself. Because you have formed the path so well that I admire you.

Do-joon smiled bitterly.

As he thought earlier, that was not what he did. It was just a given characteristic because he was awakened.

So-eun was also administratively registered as an Awakened, but in reality, she wasn’t a real awakened person.

‘I’ve learned a little more about the disease..... But, there’s no real gain from it.’

“Dad, I have a request.”

When Do-joon was depressed alone, So-eun held Do-joon’s hand and shook it.

He quickly relaxed his expression and asked.

“Request? What kind of request?”

“I want to go to kindergarten.”

Kindergarten?

It wasn’t a random request. Because it was in So-eun’s bucket list that he saw last time.

“Kindergarten...”

Of course, he had the intention to let her go if she wanted to. In the first place, she was discharged from the hospital because she wanted to learn about the world in conjunction with her peers or other people.

‘However, It’s just that she isn’t allowed in regular kindergartens.’

So-eun was currently registered as an awakened person. Awakened children are not allowed to enter general kindergartens or elementary schools. Since there was a high risk of accidents.

The options were fixed.

The kindergarten that was attached to the academy. It was a facility with retired hunters or professional-educated teachers.

“Okay. So, shall we go see it tomorrow?”

“Really!?”

“Of course.”

“Wow! Unnie! Sia Unnie! Dad said I can go to kindergarten!”

So-eun raised her hands in joy, and ran away calling Siewellin.

Do-joon smiled painfully when he saw her back.

Even though he was happy and pleased with these small things, the fact that it was a time-limited wealth was also deeply embedded like a thorn in him.

* * *

“On your chest~ I’ll bury my face~”

(T/N: Don’t ask me about the song. Just vibe with it.)

A man on a dark street was humming and walking.

The staggering appearance was quite intoxicating.

“I want to cry today~~ Uh, Aah!”

Then the man tripped over a stone and fell. The man shook his head and stood up.

However.

“Huh? What is..this?”

The straw ground was a little strange. Obviously, it felt like touching asphalt, but what it looked like was completely different.

A black, dark floor that looked like it was going to suck him in.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, perhaps in vain, but the gloomy color remained.

He tried to look again while raising his head with puzzled eyes.

“Ugh! what is this!”

The man was startled and fell on his butt. All the land he could see had been dyed black.

In the fear of the unknown, the man ran away the same way he came from.

It was only after the morning that this black land was discovered again and became a hot topic.

***